Rush Limbaugh: Open Line Friday [Confirms Some Aspects of Drug Story, Checking In To Rehab]

[I Am Not A Mod]

A thread for those listening to today's show.

[Yaelle]

For 30 day facilities the rate is less than 30% recovery.

I wonder what the rate of recovery is for avowed conservatives who have millions of people watching their backs. Probably much higher.

(Avowed conservatives because rock stars go straight back into a lifestyle that all but actively supports drug abuse.)

[RaceBannon]

I was on the same medication as Rush for my shoulder surgery.

The pain has not gone away since the injury in March, and the therapy is excruciating, and I stopped using the drug within 2 weeks after surgery when it stopped working for me.

I took it every 4 hours, and sometimes doubled up on it because laying down with this injury prevented me from sleeping, the position was just way too painful and taking 4 Hydrocodone 7.5/750 was not enough to let me sleep more than 4 hours when the pills wore off.

For Rush to do this 2 times before, shows he knew what his problem was for years. His being forced into it this time is not a reason to praise him or baby him. He needs to be humbled and break down this time or he will only get worse, and it is his fault totally.


Rush has a choice: Learn this time or fall down for good. This is a major personal failure for him. And I mean failure. He needs to really have this point brought home to him.



Link Directly to Content

Drugs and Chemicals of Concern > Hydrocodone > Summary

Drugs and Chemicals of Concern

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Hydrocodone, Dihydrocodeinone
(Vicodin, Lortab)
Introduction

Hydrocodone abuse has been escalating over the last decade. There has been large scale diversion of hydrocodone. For example, an estimated 7 million dosage units were diverted in 1994 and over 11 million in 1997. In 1998 there were over 56 million new prescriptions written for hydrocodone products and by 2000 there were over 89 million. From 1990 the average consumption nationwide has increased by 300%. In the same period there has been a 500% increase in the number of Emergency Department visits attributed to hydrocodone abuse with 19,221 visits estimated in 2000. In 1997, there were over 1.3 million hydrocodone tablets seized and analyzed by the DEA laboratory system. A recent petition submitted to the DEA has requested a review of the control status of all hydrocodone-containing products.

Licit Uses

Hydrocodone is an effective antitussive (anti-cough) agent, and as an opiate it is also an effective analgesic for mild to moderate pain control. Five mg of hydrocodone is equivalent to 30 mg of codeine when administered orally. Early comparisons concluded that hydrocodone and morphine were equipotent for pain control in humans. However, it is now considered that a dose of 15 mg (1/4 gr) of hydrocodone is equivalent to 10 mg (1/6 gr) of morphine. Hydrocodone is considered to be morphine-like in all respects.

Chemistry/Pharmacology

Hydrocodone [4,5a-epoxy-3-methoxy-17-methylmorphinan-6-one tartrate (1:1) hydrate (2:5), dihydrocodeinone] is a semisynthetic opioid structurally related to codeine and is approximately equipotent to morphine in producing opiate-like effects. The first report that hydrocodone produced a "striking euphoria" and habituation symptoms was published in 1923; the first report of hydrocodone dependency in the U.S. was published in 1961. It was removed from exempt status in the U.S. by the Narcotics Manufacturing Act of 1960.

There are over 200 products containing hydrocodone in the U.S. In its most usual product forms hydrocodone is combined with acetaminophen (Vicodin, Lortab), but it is also combined with aspirin (Lortab ASA), ibuprofen (Vicoprofen), and antihistamines (Hycomine). Both tablet and liquid forms of hydrocodone are available (e.g., Tussionex)

Hydrocodone will react as a normal opiate in the available field test kits.

Illicit Uses

Hydrocodone is abused for its opiate-like effects. It is equipotent to morphine in relieving abstinence symptoms from chronic morphine administration. The Schedule III status of hydrocodone-containing products has made them available to widespread diversion by "bogus call-in prescriptions" and thefts. Three dosage forms are typically found (5, 7.5, and 10 mg) and their behavioral effects can last up to 5 hours. The drug is most often administered orally. The growing awareness and concern about AIDS and blood-borne pathogens easily transmitted by syringe needle use, has made the oral bioavailability of hydrocodone attractive to the typical opiate abuser.

As with most opiates, the adverse effects of hydrocodone abuse are dependence and tolerance development. Its co-formulation with acetaminophen has also increased the likelihood of acetaminophen-induced hepatic necrosis with high dose acute dosing, but slow escalation of dose over time seems to protect the liver during high dose chronic exposures seen with this drug.

User Population

Every age group has been affected by the relative ease of hydrocodone availability and the perceived safety of these products by professionals. Sometimes seen as a "white-collar" addiction, hydrocodone abuse has increased among all ethnic and economic groups. DAWN data demographics suggest that the most likely hydrocodone abuser is a 20-40 yr old, white, female, who uses the drug because she is dependent or trying to commit suicide. However, hydrocodone-related deaths have been reported from every age grouping.

Illicit Distribution

Hydrocodone-containing products are in tablet, capsule and liquid forms. A variety of colors, markings, and packaging are available.

The major source of hydrocodone to the street has been through bogus call-in and forged prescriptions, professional diversion through unscrupulous pharmacists, doctors, and dentists, and large-scale thefts. The pills have been sold for $2 to $10 per tablet and $20 to $40 per 8 oz bottle on the street.

Control Status

Hydrocodone is in Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act. Preparations containing hydrocodone in combination with other non-narcotic medicinal ingredients are in Schedule III.

Comments and additional information are welcomed by the Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section, FAX 202-307-8570 or telephone 202-307-7183.

August, 2001

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http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drugs_concern/hydrocodone/summary.htm

[mhking]

Have you read any of the accounts of HOW he got the drugs? Exchanging goods in restaurant parking lots? Getting the maid to score for him (allegedly)? This was not a case of Rush heading to the pharmacy to get his legit precription.

I'm sorry, I can't take the Enquirer report as gospel. And until it is proven, either in official documents or in confirmation from his own lips, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

You are making the opposite leap. That's your business. But it also shows your level of support - or the lack of it - given the gravity of the situation.

[Orangedog]

If this were a case of Rush simply taking a lot of drugs given to him by his doctor, all of which were bought at a pharmacy, I could see your point. But that's not part of any story I've read on it, and I think Rush MIGHT have defended himself if that were the case.

Rush said that he had saught treatment for his addiction on two previous occasions. I SERIOUSLY DOUBT any doctor would currently be prescribing oxy's to anyone who has been treated twice for addiction to them. Therefore, I think that it is reasonable to assume that he was obtaining them illegally.

[GeronL]

Funny how you can't tell the difference between a gang banger who sells drugs to addicts who live in an abandoned warehouse and a guy who got hooked on pain killer after surgery.

[kabar]

>>...The surgery was unsuccessful and I continue to have severe pain in my lower back and neck...two herniated discs....<<

Rush is an addict and this is his rationalization. I don't buy his story. This is a guy who has spent endless hours on air describing his golf game and experiences in pro-am tournaments. I can't imagine someone swinging a golf club regularly with this self-described condition even with painkillers. I think there is more to the story. It wouldn't surprise me that he was taking uppers and diet pills to cope with depression related to his physical problems including his loss of hearing. He is under investigation now so he is going to rehab as part of his legal defense.

[katz]

Because Rush is able to admit to his weakness and has a family of friends to provide support.

[Dane]

Dane cut your losses. As for as addiction goes Rush is no better than any street drug addict. He is a junkie period.

Sorry, but your DU spin goes right over my head. Rush could have denied everything like the Clintons, had a Pellicano private dick go after Wilma Cline and kill her cat and declared his innocence, but he faced up to his problem and admitted them to millions of people, and for that he should be given some support and more importantly our prayers.

[RaceBannon]

WOW, Great Point!!

[mhking]

See the National Enquirer. See the possible criminal investigation. Talk to his housekeeper.

Credibility? What credibility? I guess their stories about aliens are true too.

I can't realistically take their word as gospel. No, I don't believe what they publish; and I certainly don't trust it.

[zoyd]

I don't, and if Rush continued to oppose this it still wouldn't make him a hypocrite.

So he's just weak? He's powerless? He can't practice what he preaches?

Lemme get this straight -- if Rush came on the air, and said that Oxycontin should be STRICTLY controlled, with abusers of those controls sent to prison, he wouldn't be a hypocrite if he scored Oxycontin and didn't turn himself in? I'm having a hard time with this logic.

[Hacksaw]

Are you COMPLETELY unaware of the Drug Warrior arguments? Rush helped keep his dealers in business, thereby CONTRIBUTING to lawless behavior, and ENCOURAGING others to become drug dealers, because they have an endless supply of users in folks like RUSH.

And the response from the anti's (if they were consistent) would be that Rush is not at fault, the LAWS are.

[Orangedog]

The DEA keeps very strict tabs on oxy prescriptions.

[Fraulein]

You just find a doctor who doesn't know you were ever in treatment.

[July 4th]

Nothing wrong with caffeine. Sugar, however, is far more evil.

[Tribune7]

Morphine and cocaine were sold that way here in the US for a long time.

As were upppers, downers and other pills. And this practice was stopped -- with popular acclamation -- because of perceived abuses.

The libertarian position was that there was never any abuse and these laws were passed because evil, bogus totalitarian moralist types wanted to control other people.

You'd have to be pretty much blinded by dogma not to believe that there wasn't some kind of problem that needed addressing.

[lelio]

had a Pellicano private dick go after Wilma Cline

Well he didn't have to, FReepers did it for him. The same people that expressed outrage at James Carville's statement that if you drag a dollar through a trailer park are using the same terms to describe her.

[zoyd]

Funny how you can't tell the difference between a gang banger who sells drugs to addicts who live in an abandoned warehouse and a guy who got hooked on pain killer after surgery.

Keep that head in the sand. An addict is an addict. Rush was, allegedly, buying drugs off the street. He might very well have bought his drugs from the SAME GUY selling drugs to addicts in abandoned warehouses. But you'll give Rush the pass.

How many addicts of other drugs used 'pain' as a reason for starting their own addiction? There are plenty of addicts who started due to pain. Then they became addicts. The only difference is the drug of choice.

[ch53gunner]

"Rehab really doesn't work. He's screwed. Once a junkie, almost always a junkie."

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[Qwinn]

Qwinn: "I would still continue, however, to condemn Clinton as the President that enacted the most draconian anti-marijuana laws ever seen in this country for it's own sake."

Dane: "Why did you put that "nugget" in there? That isn't true and you know it."

The ACLU would disagree with you.

"Recent successes have already brought about the predictable backlash, including the Clinton Administration's threat to punish California physicians who recommended marijuana to their patients."

"In the face of widespread public support for medical marijuana law reform, the Clinton Administration's intransigence seems increasingly strange."

http://archive.aclu.org/library/spring98.html

I suppose the ACLU is part of the right wing conpiracy now.

Or how about this?

"But despite this preponderance of evidence, then DEA Director John Lawn ordered on December 30, 1989, that cannabis remain listed as a Schedule I narcotic—having no known medical use. His successor, Robert Bonner, who was appointed by Bush and kept in office by Clinton, was even more draconian in his approach to hemp/marijuana as medicine. Clinton’s current DEA administrator, Thomas Constantine (appointed 1993), upholds policies far worse even than Bonner’s."

http://www.electricemperor.com/eecdrom/HTML/EMP/06/ECH06_07.HTM

Or how about this?

"The 1993­1994 Congress only passed one bill worth noting: the CrimeBill, signed into law by President Clinton in September 1994, created drugcourts, authorized the death penalty for large-scale nonviolent marijuanaoffenses, and mandated a 'three-strikes-you're-out' life prison sentencefor defendants involved in serious offenses (which can include small-timenonviolent marijuana cultivation)."

http://www.marikane.com/hwarchiv/issue14/14hemppo.html

"Hell one of the biggest pro-marijuana moneybags, George Soros, is one of Hillary's best friends."

This proves what exactly?

Qwinn